Minneapolis budget plan includes millions for new employees as part of police reform effort

@ap.news FILE – In this Feb. 17, 2021 file photo, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey addresses the media in Minneapolis. From COVID-19 to a budget shortfall, and from the death of George Floyd to the more recent death of a 6-year-old girl from gun violence, the mayor of Minneapolis says his city has experienced one trauma after another in the last year — and the city’s Black community has felt the pain the most. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via AP, Pool File)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Complying with court orders to end racist and unconstitutional policing in Minneapolis will require hiring nearly three dozen new workers at a cost of millions of dollars for years to come. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that the City Council on Monday formally took up Mayor Jacob Frey’s proposed 2024 budget. It is the first spending plan directly connecting taxpayer costs to the specific jobs required by the court orders that followed the examination of the police department after the killing of George Floyd. The spending plan adds $7.6 million in costs for new jobs in 2024. That includes adding 34 full-time positions for jobs such as lawyers, IT people, workers to examine body-worn camera footage and others.